As they travelled deeper into the HQ, she found civilians intermingled with the soldiers in about equal numbers, all wearing the same combination of business casual. It was wrapped a little more tightly than in Seattle. Many suits, but not all with ties. There were far fewer nose-rings and statement tee-shirts, but again the vibe was no different from the Federal Center in Temple. Musso fitted right in, at least in appearance. Caitlin was the odd one out as they arrived in a large, wood-panelled anteroom.
A civilian secretary, an African-American woman, stood up and smiled in greeting. ‘Good morning. The Governor will see you. Ma’am, may I take your coat?’
Caitlin processed her surroundings while taking off her field jacket. ‘Yes, ma’am, thank you.’ She tagged a slightly more sophisticated motion sensor in a corner of the ceiling, alarms tied into the windows and an inert magic eye guarding the entrance to Blackstone’s inner office. Again, nothing special.
After handing over their coats, they made their way in to a large, comfortable space, recently hacked out of the old building layout. It smelled of fresh paint and high-quality coffee, roasting on a sideboard next to a silver tray piled high with fresh bread rolls, smoked salmon, and pastries. There was no filing system to be seen. No computer on his desk. No signs of a wall safe.
‘Oh, the Governor has just stepped out,’ his secretary said. ‘I’m sure he’ll be back momentarily. Please make yourselves comfortable. Can I pour you some coffee?’
‘No, we’ll be fine, thank you,’ replied Musso.
The secretary left them.
An array of framed photographs, plaques, awards and certificates hung along a wall of what appeared to be highly polished cherry. In one image, a backdrop of burning oil wells bracketed a young group of officers standing on top of a blackened Iraqi tank. In another photo, a smiling Colonel Blackstone shook hands with Bill Clinton without a hint of the reserve evident in the officers around him. A third photo, a faded colour image, showed a pair of oldsters pinning a set of lieutenant’s bars on a very young man.
At the centre of the wall was a shadow box filled with a substantial collection of ribbons, qualification badges and division patches. Musso didn’t waste a second glance at the wall, perhaps because he had seen it all before. Caitlin took the opportunity to inspect the whole display more closely, as it afforded her an opportunity to walk around the office and scope it out.
Ty McCutcheon sidled up next to her and removed his sunglasses. ‘Impressive career. Enlisted at eighteen for Nam and ended up as a Ranger. You’ll have to forgive him for that.’
‘Not a fan of the 75th Regiment?’ she asked.
‘I was air force once upon a time, like you, Colonel,’ McCutcheon replied as if that explained it. ‘Drove me a Warthog. The General, though, he’s the real deal. Rose from the ranks the old-fashioned way. By killing those in need of it. Did his time and got a slot at Officer’s Candidate School. First in his family to go to college, you know.’
She did know, but said nothing.
‘Did well there,’ McCutcheon continued. ‘Third in class. Picked up his commission and then they sent him off to college.’ The Governor’s aide pointed up at the framed Bachelor of Arts in political science from NYU.
A toilet flushed at the far end of the office, followed by the sound of running water.
‘And the rest is a very boring story for the most part,’ a new voice called out. ‘Don’t let Ty blow too much smoke up your ass on my account. It feels nice, but the Surgeon General says it’s bad for you.’
Caitlin turned, expecting to find George C. Scott or Jack Nicholson growling lines of hand-crafted dialogue at her. The only other general she’d had recent experience of, aside from Musso, was a newly retired General Stephen F. Murphy, who had taken up a deputy director’s chair with Echelon in Vancouver. Murphy did indeed growl, never smiled, and looked like he would genuinely enjoy crushing testicles with his bare hands. This man, the bogie man who exercised the fears and anxieties of half the country, approached them from his private washroom, looking like he should have been tending a garden somewhere. A bit too grey, a bit too round, a bit too soft at the edges, with a rather grand Roman nose and a twinkle in his eyes. A friendly twinkle. The beard, less old navy than Santa Claus, only served to enhance the disarming warmth of his smile.
‘Jackson Blackstone,’ he announced, extending his hand. ‘Welcome to Fort Hood, Colonel Murdoch.’
Caitlin took his hand; a firm, somewhat calloused grip. ‘Thank you, Governor.’
‘My, that’s quite a grip you’ve got there, Colonel. You wouldn’t be an old chopper pilot, would you?’
‘No sir. Tennis.’
‘Ah, my wife is a fan. I’m afraid I’m not. Fishing is my personal obsession. One I don’t get to enjoy nearly as much I had planned to after hanging up my uniform.’
Blackstone spared a sideways glance for Tusk Musso, much the way a frustrated academic might look at a particularly dim student. ‘Musso,’ he said, ‘always a pleasure.’
The President’s unofficial ambassador nodded. ‘Blackstone.’
The Governor suddenly clapped his hands together, producing a sound like a rifle crack. ‘Does anyone have any interest in breakfast? I know it’s late but I haven’t eaten yet. Between my morning exercise and the blizzard of paperwork that follows me everywhere, I often don’t. But I saved myself a fine river trout. Caught yesterday, but not by me, I’m afraid to say. I’d been intending to save it for lunch. But it would make an excellent breakfast with some toast and avocado and a cup of fine Costa Rican robusta.’
Caitlin shook her head. ‘Negative, sir. We ate before we came on post.’
‘Colonel, please. Relax.’ Blackstone smiled. ‘You can step down from DEFCON 1. I’m not the ogre everyone makes me out to be. I haven’t had anybody dragged behind a gun carriage since I retired.’
McCutcheon was the only one who smiled. Caitlin maintained a studied neutrality, while Musso gave the Governor his stone face.
‘Damn, you know, this will be a very long morning if we have to stare each other down like this,’ Blackstone sighed. ‘How about a cup of coffee and a donut? Breakfast of champions. Would that suffice as a peace offering, Colonel? Initially? I’m afraid I gave up smoking some years ago, so a peace pipe is out of the question.’
Caitlin had to admit, she could murder another cup of coffee. She decided to give a bit. ‘Earl Grey all day does get tiresome. A cup of coffee would be agreeable, sir.’
‘Please, Colonel, “Jack” will do. I’m not in uniform anymore. And we’re behind closed doors. Ty …’ Blackstone regarded his aide with the same judgmental expression that he’d laid on Musso, tempered in this case by familiarity and a regretful shake of the head. ‘You look like you need a cup yourself. Got a little carried away making new friends last night, I’ll wager. Your penance is to fetch a fresh pot.’
The office was divided into a sitting area softened with leather couches and armchairs arranged around a polished cherry-wood coffee table. Bookshelves ran the length of one wall, only half filled. A small kitchenette with a glass-front fridge and a coffee pot completed the sitting area. The other half was a simple, featureless table of oak with a neat stack of files on the left-hand side.
Caitlin chose a seat facing Blackstone, who settled himself on the couch across from her. Musso took up a flanking position while McCutcheon came around with fresh mugs of coffee. She savoured the aroma of premium beans. The powdered shit back in Temple was undrinkable.
‘We’ve managed to stabilise the neighbouring states near the Canal Zone,’ Blackstone explained. ‘Reopening links to Costa Rica is one of the fringe benefits of those stability operations.’
She took a sip and nodded. ‘Very good, sir. Was it worth deploying a third of the Texas Defense Force to Panama for a cup of joe, though?’
He grinned like Saint Nick on Christmas morning. ‘Well, it’s pretty good coffee, but I didn’t order the deployment for that alone. The Canal is vital to main
taining communications with Puerto Rico and America’s eastern seaboard. And it doesn’t hurt to engage the Federation as far forward as possible. Morales would love to control that piece of real estate. He used to regularly send his envoys here to jump up and down and demand we “return” it.’
He made an inverted-comma gesture with his free hand.
‘As entertaining as it was to poke the dancing monkeys with a stick, I sent them on to Kipper. It’s really his lookout. Roberto’s so-called diplomats don’t bother coming here anymore. My only regret is that we have less contact now, and an even poorer picture of their capabilities and intent. Hopefully you can help with that, Colonel?’
She’d accepted the coffee. Why not throw him a bone? ‘“Kate” will be fine. What is your assessment of the threat, sir? It’s not exactly looming large with the national command authority. And you’ve had longer to ponder it than I have. I’ve spent the last three years assisting in the transfer of military materiel to the United Kingdom.’
Blackstone’s features darkened momentarily, driving back the softness, hardening around the edges. Caitlin thought she caught a glimpse of his temper in that brief interlude.
‘History’s idea of a joke,’ Blackstone said. ‘We bailed the Brits out in 1940 with Lend-Lease, now they step in to return the favour. And don’t they love to remind us of the reversal in fortunes.’
‘Blackstone …’ Musso sat forward.
‘Easy there, Marine,’ the Governor said, holding up his hand. ‘I will put my rancour away. But I can’t promise it won’t flare. Unlike Mr Kipper, I’m not much impressed by the helping hand our so-called nearest and dearest allies have been lending. I feel the need to check my wallet every time they reach out for us. Kate, the fact is the South American Federation has the makings of a blue-water navy, one that can outclass our own. They’re not there yet, but the trend lines are not good. We are on the way down. They are on the way up. Musso here has had first-hand experience of what we might face, down at Gitmo before he threw in the towel …’
The general made a Herculean effort to count the ceiling tiles above his head.
‘Sir?’ Caitlin held up her hand. ‘May I be frank with you? I am not a politician. I might report to one in Mr Culver, for the moment, but I’m an air force officer. I care about the mission. I am not at all interested in writing history as it transpires or interpreting the politics of that history. It would be helpful to my mission and your own interests if you simply gave me your opinion without providing a critique of the President and his policies.’
Jackson Blackstone sized her up and smiled again. It was warm, paternal, the sort of expression he might offer his daughter or granddaughter after she’d surprised and impressed him.
‘Fair enough, Kate,’ he said, leaning back with his coffee. ‘I’m just glad that Machiavellian motherfucker, Jed Culver, saw fit to send you down here on the quiet. Trust a devil like him to recognise one in Roberto. So. Let’s talk unpleasant realities. The Federation Navy poses a significant potential risk to the United States Navy and the Texas Coast Guard in the local theatre of operations.’
Caitlin held the reins of her scepticism tight. Last time she checked, there was no war with Roberto under way and no theatre of operations within which it was being fought. Blackstone carried on regardless.
‘They have maintained an extensive fleet of Type 209 submarines taken from the navies of constituent states, or former states I suppose, and it is our belief that these subs are being used right now to infiltrate agents into North and Central America. In our sphere of influence - by which I mean America’s, lest you mistake me. My Coast Guard intelligence folks tell me the 209s are providing material support to the pirate groups that operate out of Mexican and Cuban ports. Their air power is a frequent concern of mine. They possess sufficient capacity to attack the Panama Canal Zone. Half of the TDF Air Guard is tied down in Panama serving as a deterrent against that very threat. Unfortunately, half of the Guard often sits on the ground for want of spare parts. I can’t get Seattle to free up my requests for spares or support from the US Navy and Air Force. Perhaps your own assessment will help break open that log jam, Kate.’
‘I’ll make no promises,’ Caitlin replied. ‘Other than to assess the intelligence without bias. I’ll report to Mister Culver. What he puts in front of the President is up to him.’
‘Fair is fair,’ Blackstone said, reaching for the coffee pot. ‘Musso, you up for a fresh cup? You look like you’re drifting off, old man.’
In fact, he looked like he was lost in some old memory. ‘No, I’m fine. Thank you,’ Tusk said once he’d rejoined them.
‘Kate?’
She demurred. ‘We have all of the data you’ve cited so far, sir,’ she said. ‘None of it implies a need for urgent policy or resource action. Not given the way our forces are already overstretched. Is there some other reason you’re concerned about the Federation?’
Special Agent Monroe had little interest in his answer. But she had her role to play, and Colonel Murdoch would not have been impressed with Blackstone’s case thus far. The Governor and his aide exchanged a glance. McCutcheon excused himself and left the office.
‘You read much history, Kate?’ asked Blackstone.
‘Some, sir. In college. Mostly course-related.’
‘Of course. But you would be familiar with the big picture, between the wars last century. The rise of the absolute tyrants and the superstates. Hitler’s Germany. The Soviet Union. And the little Hitlers here and there. Saddam. The interchangeable ayatollahs.’
She indicated some familiarity with the twentieth century.
‘That’s good,’ said Blackstone. ‘Because I think we’re living through something similar. The 1920s and ‘30s, Kate. They were an historical discontinuity, by which I mean the orderly progression of history was shattered. By the slaughter of the Great War. It destroyed empires, re-fashioned the world, swept away an old order and for three decades, and arguably for more, there was no sense of continuity. You change a few decisions here or there, and you change what comes afterwards forever. There was no reason we had to win in 1945. No reason why it had to be the Soviets who lost in 1989 either. It seems inevitable looking back, what the commies used to call “the correlation of forces”, but it was really just one day after another, one decision here, an action taken or not taken there. FDR dying of polio. The Depression running much deeper for longer. Nixon not getting caught and poisoning the well for ever after.’
The Governor looked as though he was enjoying himself with his free-ranging lecture, right up until the point when Musso interrupted him.
‘Are we going somewhere today, Professor?’
A hint of annoyance crossed his face but he composed himself. ‘Ever the literalist, eh Musso?’ he sighed. ‘A common failing of the Jarhead. A lack of imagination and a refusal to learn from history. My service commenced all the way back in Vietnam and you know what I learned there, Kate?’
‘No, sir.’
‘The United States Marine Corps was the finest implement ever crafted for getting young American lads killed for no good reason at all.’
She felt Musso radiate waves of hostility and sensed the tension that suddenly strained at every muscle in his body. Blackstone, meanwhile, seemed to be enjoying himself again, grinning like a cat in front of a big bowl of cream.
‘I learned lessons in Vietnam, Kate. But I learned even more later, including the most important - which was to never stop learning, to never stop questioning your basic assumptions. Colin Powell, God rest his soul wherever it may have been taken, used to be fond of lecturing us about the lessons of Vietnam and the limits of power. But he never questioned himself about whether those limits had changed in the years between our ignoble defeat in Vietnam - for that is what it was, and the revisionists be damned - and the moment of half-achieved victory he engineered in the First Gulf War. If he had asked himself that question, I don’t believe we would have been sitting in the desert in 2003, wai
ting to finish the job, when the Wave swept everything away.’
‘I don’t recall you being in the desert in ‘03, Governor,’ said Musso, as though he was actually racking his memory. ‘Weren’t you in … Fort Lewis? Yes, that’s right. I seem to recall something about a military junta you were trying to impose there.’
None of the anger she had seen flash in his eyes was evident in Blackstone’s reaction to the taunt. He laughed.
‘Indeed, I was not in the desert, Tusk. Nor you, as I recall.’
Caitlin was certain this was a cue to revisit the subject of Musso’s surrender of Guantanamo to the Venezuelans, and prepared to intercede before the meeting descended into a shambles. But the Governor waved off Musso’s diversionary attack.
‘I suppose we should cherish the memory of Powell for not finishing the job the first time around. It meant we were lucky enough to have so many of our forces outside the Wave in March ‘03. But what I really wanted to say, Kate, is that I believe we are living through a time of shattered, discontinuous history, and I have come to the conclusion that it will fall to us, as it fell to our grandfathers, to resist a tyranny, to prevent it establishing itself in our world.’
‘You see yourself as Winston Churchill, then, Governor?’ Musso deadpanned.
‘No, but I see us facing the same question Churchill faced in the years when he alone stood before the truth of what was coming.’
McCutcheon returned with a steel briefcase before his boss could build up another head of steam. He placed it on the table around which they sat, careful not to scratch the surface. After entering separate combinations for both locks, he snapped open the lid and took out two folders, which he handed to Caitlin and Musso. Inside hers, Caitlin found transcripts of interviews and photographs of four men.
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